The present invention relates to a lamp for a life jacket or raft having a battery box which contains a battery and a light source located in a lamp housing wherein the lamp is switched on and off by screwing and unscrewing, respectively, of the lamp housing. The lamp may be used for inflatable as well as non-inflatable rigid life jackets and rafts.
Life jackets and rafts which are held in readiness aboard vessels and aircraft are usually in a tightly packed condition until inflated for use. The inflation is preferably carried out automatically even though it may also be carried out manually. For being put into use, the lamp arranged on the life jacket or raft is to be switched on by supplying power from a long-storage-life battery. The lamp may be switched on manually but, of course, it is desirable that it is switched on automatically, and in a known lamp which is switched on automatically a switch is inserted into the current supply circuit of the lamp and consists of contact springs which, in the deactivated condition of the lamp, are kept apart by a plastic pin which, using a line fixed to an anchoring site on the life jacket or raft, upon inflation of the jacket or raft, provides a pull on the line for pulling out the plastic pin so as to permit the contact springs to contact each other and thus close the circuit to the lamp. It is a drawback of such an inserted switch that, in use, it is not protected against the environment so that poor contacting may occur. It is also a drawback of the known construction that such an additional switch should be provided which increases the price of the assembly as such. Of course, the same also applies when the lamp is used on a non-inflatable life jacket or raft where it is switched on manually.